''It's not only about adjusting to what's already happened, it's actually taking the time to understand what's likely to happen in the future and that's where TIA has a role to play.''
Mr Snedden spoke to the Queenstown Times on Friday before he discussed the role he wanted the association to play - the development of a National Tourism Plan - with 13 influential tourism leaders from around the Southern Lakes in the Queenstown Resort College.
The plan is one of five components in the TIA's 2012 to 2014 strategic plan, alongside Tourism Funding, Tourism Intelligence, China Growth Support and Adventure Safety.
Mr Snedden said the national tourism plan would lead industry development as well as unite and inspire it, but the plan would not be tied to changing politics and was not designed to micro-manage.
After eight months in the job, he is touring the country to gain feedback from regional tourism chiefs and said he was pleased the conversations covered tourism capability and infrastructure, as well as the usual topic of visitor numbers.
Asked if the proposed Queenstown Convention Centre for 750 to 1000 delegates was big enough, Mr Snedden said the next seven years would see a new convention centre in Queenstown, ''if everything fell into place'', plus a new mid-sized convention centre in Christchurch and a large convention centre in Auckland.
''I think what New Zealand should be looking to achieve is rather than those three convention centres actively working against each other, that there is some alignment there which could help spread the benefit of conferences and incentives,'' Mr Snedden said.
''I think we've got potential in New Zealand for that area. It tends to bring in high value visitors who do a lot more than attend conventions and knowing we've got these new facilities in six or seven years, we shouldn't again be sitting there and letting whatever happens happen.''
Queenstown Airport, as an domestic and international terminal, was a mitigator against Christchurch earthquakes, he said.
The association supported the introduction of evening flights at the airport to maximise the Australian market, if it was safe and had ''reasonable community support''.
''The facility that the airport provides is an absolute key to the future success of tourism in this area and even more so with the issues Christchurch is facing and the impact that has on the whole of South Island tourism.''
Mr Snedden said the high inbound visitor numbers from Asia during the Chinese New Year period had not been a surprise to the association. It fell at a good time of year for New Zealand operators and they enjoyed a good summer trade in general, he heard.
''The whole issue of China is an interesting one for us because while Australia is by far our biggest international market and whilst the domestic market is still incredibly strong, China is one of the two areas which is displaying spectacular growth. The other is the cruise industry.
''There is a very significant focus now on the Chinese visitor market, to try and work out how best to provide Chinese visitors with a fantastic experience - and that's a challenge in itself because we aren't ready to provide that experience.
''The second part of the Chinese equation is to work out how to get better financial return from those visitors. At the moment we have a significant impediment in that most of the Chinese visitors come here through a visa system called approved destination status.
''A consequence of that is a lot of them come through on three-day shopping trips. Whilst the numbers look great, the economic return isn't so great.
''What we've got to do is find ways of luring Chinese visitors to New Zealand as a primary destination, as opposed to a three-day add on to a visit to Australia, and make sure that when they're here they stay longer and visit more places in New Zealand than they have.''
